What is "balefull"

Usage examples of "balefull".

Great troupes of people traueild thitherwardBoth day and night, of each degree and place,But few returned, hauing scaped hard,With balefull beggerie, or foule disgrace,Which euer after in most wretched case,Like loathsome lazars, by the hedges lay.

Thenceforth me desolate he quite forsooke,To wander, where wilde fortune would me lead,And other bywaies he himselfe betooke,Where neuer foot of liuing wight did tread,That brought not backe the balefull body dead.

Ere long they come, where that same wicked wightHis dwelling has, low in an hollow caue,Farre vnderneath a craggie clift ypight,Darke, dolefull, drearie, like a greedie graue,That still for carrion carcases doth craue:On top whereof aye dwelt the ghastly Owle,Shrieking his balefull note, which euer draueFarre from that haunt all other chearefull fowle.

With that his balefull speare, he fiercely bentAgainst the Pagans brest, and therewith thoughtHis cursed life out of her lodge haue rent:But ere the point arriued, where it ought,That seuen-fold shield, which he from Guyon broughtHe cast betwene to ward the bitter stound:Through all those foldes the steelehead passage wroughtAnd through his shoulder pierst.

And if thou euer happen that same wayTo trauell, goe to see that dreadfull place:It is an hideous hollow caue (they say)Vnder a rocke that lyes a little spaceFrom the swift Barry, tombling downe apace,Emongst the woodie hilles of Dyneuowre:But dare thou not, I charge, in any cace,To enter into that same balefull Bowre,For fear the cruell Feends should thee vnwares deuowre.

He tombling downe, with gnashing teeth did biteThe bitter earth, and bad to let him inInto the balefull house of endlesse night,Where wicked ghosts do waile their former sin.

And sooth it seemes they say: for he may notFor euer die, and euer buried beeIn balefull night, where all things are forgot.

Most famous Worthy of the world, by whomeThat warre was kindled, which did Troy inflame,And stately towres of Ilion whilomeBrought vnto balefull ruine, was by nameSir Paris far renowmd through noble fame,Who through great prowesse and bold hardinesse,From Lacedæmon fetcht the fairest Dame,That euer Greece did boast, or knight possesse,Whom Venus to him gaue for meed of worthinesse.

Into the same he creepes, and thenceforth thereResolu'd to build his balefull mansion,In drery darkenesse, and continuall feareOf that rockes fall, which euer and anonThreates with huge ruine him to fall vpon,That he dare neuer sleepe, but that one eyeStill ope he keepes for that occasion.

O Hatefull hellish Snake, what furie furstBrought thee from balefull house of Proserpine,Where in her bosome she thee long had nurst,And fostred vp with bitter milke of tine,Fowle Gealosie, that turnest loue diuineTo ioylesse dread, and mak'st the louing hartWith hatefull thoughts to languish and to pine,And feed it selfe with selfe-consuming smart?

But ere his hand he could recure againe,To ward his bodie from the balefull stound,He smote at him with all his might and maine,So furiously, that ere he wist, he foundHis head before him tombling on the ground.

And in the midst thereof did horror dwell,And darkenesse dredd, that neuer viewed day,Like to the balefull house of lowest hell,In which old Styx her aged bones alway,Old Styx the Grandame of the Gods, doth lay.

Yet his owne loue, the noble Britomart,Scarse so conceiued in her iealous thought,What time sad tydings of his balefull smartIn womans bondage, Talus to her brought.